


The Price of Freedom

by Novantinuum (ChromaticDreams)



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Gen, Homeworld is Horrible, Hurt No Comfort, Restraints, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:00:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26774026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChromaticDreams/pseuds/Novantinuum
Summary: Even while sightless, even when she only exists as thin fingers of light rapidly spreading outwards from her gem, Rose can sense that something is deeply, dreadfully wrong.Written for Whumptober 2020, Day 1: Waking up restrained.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 26





	The Price of Freedom

She’s finally done it. Pink Diamond is gone forever, metaphorically shattered into fragments, those fragments scattered to the far corners of the Earth like seeds traveling on wind. And now, with the alibi Pearl helped her forge solidly in place, no one on Homeworld would ever suspect any different. After hundreds of years of quiet rebellion, the shackles that tied her to that awful place are loose.

Rose Quartz is free.

But even freedom boasts a price.

In her case, that price is the excruciatingly long period of formless nothing that envelops her whole soul like a skintight glove. Who knew that poofing could be so... so _boring?_ A wave of melancholy crashes over her as instinctively, her under-stimulated mind veers towards thoughts of her friends, of her fellow soldiers, of Pearl. Oh, her dear Pearl... so brave and beautiful, so endlessly beloved and trusted she is, to hide her gem away from prying eyes while she’s saving up energy to reform. How she longs to hold her in her arms again, whole and finally _alive,_ to gently caress her cheek as they lay giggling in a patch of flowers at the edge of one of their rebel encampments, mutually bewitched by the blossoming of their miraculous new beginning.

All she knows for sure at this point is that when she eventually reforms, every scrap of discarded strategy, their stress, their worry... it’ll have all been worth it. Her essence relaxes, and she settles in for the rest of the wait.

At first, the inky black nothingness lasts for what seems like a mere rotation of this planet. And then that single rotation turns into a season. And a season turns into an Earth year. An Earth year turns into a whole Homeworld solar cycle.

Eventually— right when her patience is about to wear thin— she feels something shift within her, like an iron key jostling stubborn tumblers into place. It’s time. Warmth exploding from her core like a star about to shed its outer gases, she wills herself to emerge. But even while sightless, even when she only exists as thin fingers of light rapidly spreading outwards from her gem, Rose can sense that something is deeply, dreadfully wrong.

Hard light refuses to shift in the right directions. It pushes and retracts and sighs, but never fully resolves like it did whenever she used to shapeshift into her chosen form. Instead, whenever she envisions that full head of wild curls, that delicately layered gown, bare toes for wiggling in the sand, every part of her faux quartz body perfectly plump and strong... the light wobbles, and then presses inward again. Dread pools at her core as she desperately tries to regenerate again. And again. And again, with no luck. Stars, what on Earth could be wrong? She’s taken up this form hundreds of times, so why should permanently adopting it be any different? Refusal of birthright or not, she’s a _diamond,_ for shards’ sake, she should be able to do this!

And then, the cruel force that’s barring her from forming the way she pleases begins to tug at her core, teasing her out whether she’s ready to emerge or not. Lengthening channels of light pulse ever faster as she panics.

Ultimately, she can’t help but give in to the pressure.

When she opens her eyes, she’s blinded by pure terror so egregious and immobilizing she almost poofs all over again. She’s hanging in midair, suspended by two gigantic, talon-tipped hands. Taking a deep breath, she dares to glance down... and what she sees is nightmarish enough to fuel her darkest dreams for the next millennia. The walls and floor are coated in pure static. Her body feels nigh unrecognizable to her at this point, all thin and pink, lanky limbs swathed in frilly, clownish clothes. An impenetrable barrier smothers her like a membrane, transparent but milky white in tone. She thrashes and screams from within, the deep well of power she’s kept hidden for so long threatening to tear at the very threads of light that are holding this husk of an unwanted form together in the first place.

White Diamond‘s ebony lips part in a thin smile, grim, yet satisfied with the outcome of her work as she tightens her hold on the smaller Gem with naught but a click of her fingers.

“Thought you could make a fool of me and fake your shattering, did you?” she croons, yanking her immobilized form right up to her face. Upon making eye contact, any last shreds of heartbroken, frustrated anger Rose held deep within her soul crumbles to dust. Those ‘perfect, flawless’ features of hers screw up as she lets out a mewling, hopeless sob.

_“You thought wrong, Starlight.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick fic, was inspired by the Whumptober prompts, [which can be found here.](https://whumptober2020.tumblr.com/post/628055505485561856/whumptober-2020-updated?is_related_post=1) I probably won't do them all, but I may write a few others as inspiration comes. If I do so, I'll throw them in their own series for ease of access. Thank you for reading!


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